Nanotechnology: Scientific promise meets business perils

By Anette BreindlScience Editor

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

SAN DIEGO  At a session on Application of Nanotechnology to the Treatment of Cancer Patients, the presenters showed multiple ways in which nanotechnology could improve cancer treatment and diagnostics. If, that is, the technology can make it onto pharma's priority list. Moderator Mark Davis kicked off the session by pointing out that the idea of nanoparticles itself is not new. But scientific advances have increased the understanding of multiple different functions nanoparticles can have to optimize drug delivery. "Now people know how to make these multiple functions work together properly," he told the audience, citing the example of Bind Biosciences Inc.'s BIND-014, which has optimized multiple functions simultaneously.